How do you get iPhoto albums on to an external HD and not by date?

I really hope someone can help me with this.
I don't know if I am missing some really easy step, but I recently bought an external 100GB FireLite drive to back up all my photos and music. The problem is that when I drag the albums on to the hard drive an error message comes up after a while, this even happens if I try to drag one photo. However, if I drag the files in date format, i.e 2001, 2002, 2003 etc.. then the files are copied over. However, when I try and open these on the new drive, they come up in Preview not in iPhoto. I am wondering if anybody else has had these problems and if so, how did you manage to back up your photos on an external hard drive as the albums are shown in iPhoto and not in date format.
I'd be grateful for any advice.

Hi Saint tommy,
-when you drag Albums to the hard drive you are probably running into the problem of having images in the Album that have the same file name. This happens when your camera resets it's file numbering to 1 each time you clear the card. Make sure your camera uses continuos numbering. I am not sure why that would happen dragging one photo.
-when you drag the photos in date format, the images are still in separate folders as to date of creation, so you will not have the same problem because they are in separate folders.
-When you open them up on a separate drive, they will open up in Preview because you did not copy the Entire iPhoto Library folder. If you did copy the entire iPhoto Library folder you would have to tell iPhoto where this folder is so it can open it.
When you launch iPhoto holding down the Option key this is the window you will get.
Create a new library or choose a library to open
Choose to create a new library if that is what you want to do, or choose a library to open by clicking the "choose" button.
If you click the "create library" iPhoto will open with a brand new library for you to import images to. If you click "choose" then you will get this window.
Open library
Navigate to where the library is on your computer, highlight it, then clcik the "open" button.
Now the "how to for backing up the iPhoto Library folder"
Backing up your iPhoto Library
1. Burn the iPhoto Library folder in the Finder to a CD or DVD
This method will give you a burned iPhoto Library folder that can be copied back to your computer to replace a damaged library. You can also use this method to backup an old library when you want to create a new Library to use as your current library.
insert a blank CD into your internal or external CD-RW drive and copy the iPhoto library to the CD icon on your desktop. When you drag the CD icon to the Trash/Eject button in the Dock, you are given the option to burn the CD. Click Burn and the CD is created. To burn a DVD backup of your digital images, use a DVD and a SuperDrive-equipped Mac
The easiest way to burn an iPhoto Library folder in the Finder that is larger than 4.7 gig to fit on one DVD is to burn sections of the folder.
Drag the iPhoto Library folder to the desktop
Double click the folder to open it.
Drag each Year folder to the desktop.
You should be left with the iPhoto Library folder containing all the data files, and the Year folders.
Combine whatever year folders that amount closest to a DVD burn size on one DVD. Make sure that you have burned all the Year folders, then the iPhoto Library folder with all the data files.
If you ever need to use this backup, insert the DVDs into your computer and copy the folders to the desktop. Put all the Year folders back into the iPhoto Library folder. Then put the iPhoto Library folder back into the Pictures folder.
2. Copy the ENTIRE iPhoto Library to an external drive formated for a Mac. Do not use this as your only back up as the external can also go bad.
3. Copy the ENTIRE iPhoto Library to your iPod in disk mode
4.Creating your own CDs and DVDs for viewing in iPhoto
This method is a great way to back up Albums of older photos or even your entire library if it is small enough to fit on a DVD. This method will give you a library that will mount within iPhoto in the source column to be viewed. To import any images from this library they need to be dragged into your library in the source column.
If you just want to backup the images in your library:
1) Within iPhoto select the images, albums or rolls you want to backup. Go to Share>Export and export them to a newly created folder on the desktop. Follow the directions in the next link.
Creating a CD or DVD to be viewed in Windows or by a photo processing company
Now the "how to copy the iPhoto Library to an external and have iPhoto use that library."
Copy the ENTIRE iPhoto Library folder to a Mac formatted external drive.
Launch iPhoto while holding down the Option key.
At the prompt, choose to open another library.
Navigate to the library on the external and highlight it.
Hit the "open" button
iPhoto will open the library on the external and from now on will use this library to import images too. This will now be your working library. Make sure everything is working correctly and everything is fine in the library.
You can then delete the library on the internal if you wish.
Hope this helps!
Lori

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